CSAC Urges Wildfire Focus on Safety vs. Shifting Liability

SACRAMENTO – The California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
strongly opposes changes to current utility liability laws and
expresses concern over comments made by the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) staff at a hearing on Tuesday in the
Senate Energy and Utilities Committee. These comments suggest
that California needs to make changes to the state’s liability
structure because utilities are not abiding by the law.

“Liability laws do not cause wildfires. Our focus — and the
CPUC’s focus now and into the future — needs to be on regulating
utilities whose equipment has been the cause of a series of
deadly wildfires over the past two years,” said CSAC Second Vice
President and Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore, whose county
was devastated by 2017 wildfires.

CSAC believes that if utilities are not abiding by the law, or
enforcing a corporate culture of safety and preparedness, we
should not change our liability laws to protect their bottom
line. Liability laws provide the ultimate incentive for utilities
to take action, change their practices and invest in critical
safety measures that will protective our communities, ratepayers
and residents.

“Our system is not perfect, and we support broader reforms that
will protect ratepayers and keep our communities safe, said CSAC
Executive Director Graham Knaus. “But, changing liability laws
and in particular, inverse condemnation, will not incentivize
safety and will only push the burden to local governments and
victims of fires.”

Counties believe that electricity does not have to come at the
expense of public safety. We look forward to working with all
stakeholders to reform our system in a way that promotes safety
and resiliency, protects ratepayers and holds utilities
accountable for negligent actions.